Importing and Ebay

[DrunkFish]

Just wanted to make a simple progress thread. I have a niche market that I'm importing and selling on ebay.
I bought 1 item and sold it for 175% profit and the item sold in 1 day, all I did was list it.

My next goal is to order 4 or 5 more units. I ordered from aliexpress with free shipping, and I went to order 4 and now shipping costs 20+ dollars.

So ordering bulk is actually more expensive. I'm wondering if I could just add to cart, buy it, and do the same thing for the other 3 or 4 and get free shipping on all of it, separately? The bulk discount is only 1% so it doesn't make sense to not do that. Just not sure if it'll work like that.

Can anyone chime in on that?

 

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[TheNextTrump]

Congrats on making your first sale man !

175% mark up ain't a bad deal at all, well done.

I can't really give any advice on the subject, but I"d go ahead and try your plan. Order one, then another and another. If they flag ya down try to negotiate with them.

I'm literally putting in my first sample order tonight/tomorrow and stumbled across this thread, nice to know I'm not the only one JUST STARTING out.

I chose to try DHgate out, not sure if its the right choice, but I have a few products locked in that seem to have potential. Will see.

Cheers from Iowa !

 

[DrunkFish]

Congrats on making your first sale man !

175% mark up ain't a bad deal at all, well done.

I can't really give any advice on the subject, but I"d go ahead and try your plan. Order one, then another and another. If they flag ya down try to negotiate with them.

I'm literally putting in my first sample order tonight/tomorrow and stumbled across this thread, nice to know I'm not the only one JUST STARTING out.

I chose to try DHgate out, not sure if its the right choice, but I have a few products locked in that seem to have potential. Will see.

Cheers from Iowa !

Yeah im actually ordering through DHGate this round. Seems to be a little bit easier to navigate and find good suppliers. Seems like every supplier on aliexpress uses stock photos instead of actual pictures which is just bothersome. Same happens on DHGate but i just happened to find some who didn't.

Also gonna try another product that costs more. Slightly nervous thinking I might have just gotten lucky, and ordering this much more is a bigger risk so it's naturally more nerve wracking. That's the game though.

 

[Tehcasa]

Just wanted to make a simple progress thread. I have a niche market that I'm importing and selling on ebay.
I bought 1 item and sold it for 175% profit and the item sold in 1 day, all I did was list it.

My next goal is to order 4 or 5 more units. I ordered from aliexpress with free shipping, and I went to order 4 and now shipping costs 20+ dollars.

So ordering bulk is actually more expensive. I'm wondering if I could just add to cart, buy it, and do the same thing for the other 3 or 4 and get free shipping on all of it, separately? The bulk discount is only 1% so it doesn't make sense to not do that. Just not sure if it'll work like that.

Can anyone chime in on that?

I don't think the supplier will allow this. However, every supplier is different, some allow the shipping price to be free to a certain point. For example Buying from 1, to 9 would be free, but buying the 10 unit will come at a shipping cost. I'm certain that your product is large, and bulky? If so, that's probably why your supplier only accepts 1 unit for a free shipping cost. Nonetheless, you should try communicating with the supplier through real-time chat, and ask if they can accept the free shipping cost for more than one unit. If worsts come to worst, manipulate your supplier on the chat, pretend your a established business and say that in your next order "you're going to buy large/bulk". In this way, they may reduce the cost of the first order to entice you more for the next order. Hope this helps!

 

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[Tehcasa]

I wouldn't recommend using DHgate because of scam reasons. Try Alibaba, it's way more legitimate, and there's millions of reputable suppliers.

Congrats on making your first sale man !

175% mark up ain't a bad deal at all, well done.

I can't really give any advice on the subject, but I"d go ahead and try your plan. Order one, then another and another. If they flag ya down try to negotiate with them.

I'm literally putting in my first sample order tonight/tomorrow and stumbled across this thread, nice to know I'm not the only one JUST STARTING out.

I chose to try DHgate out, not sure if its the right choice, but I have a few products locked in that seem to have potential. Will see.

Cheers from Iowa !

 

[DrunkFish]

I wouldn't recommend using DHgate because of scam reasons. Try Alibaba, it's way more legitimate, and there's millions of reputable suppliers.

Woops. Just ordered from DH last night. I picked suppliers with 400+ transactions and 95%+ feedback. I got two more of the item I sold last night, and one new item. Hopefully I'm not getting scammed.

Plan is: If i sell the two of the same item i sold before in the same timely fashion, then i will buy something like 5-8 more. And if i sell the new item in the same timely fashion, then i'll buy 3-5 of those, since they're more expensive.

 

[mikeobi]

That makes three newbies! I've found one product I'd like to source but I want to know how to tell if the supplier is legit on DHgate. Is the feedback good to go off? The thing I hate with alibaba is the expensive shipping quotes I get. I've been told it is justified so I wanted to start on aliexpress and DHgate because of free shipping.

 

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[DrunkFish]

That makes three newbies! I've found one product I'd like to source but I want to know how to tell if the supplier is legit on DHgate. Is the feedback good to go off? The thing I hate with alibaba is the expensive shipping quotes I get. I've been told it is justified so I wanted to start on aliexpress and DHgate because of free shipping.

Well my first order was from aliexpress and it was legit. My second order I just placed on DHG was purely based off feedback, so we'll see.

 

[TheNextTrump]

I wouldn't recommend using DHgate because of scam reasons. Try Alibaba, it's way more legitimate, and there's millions of reputable suppliers.

Unfortunately the only platform I have been focused on is DHgate, so I'm going to give it a try for a few smaller sample orders. It's a much easier platform to figure your way around, the free shipping is gold, and I feel my gut will keep me away from the SCAMMERS. Will see, and if I end up getting screwed, lesson learned. (any product I'm interested in, I just filter for the positive feedback accounts)


I'm getting active with alibaba and feel pretty certain that's the next step, I just want to have more volume moving before I put my first order in with those guys since the MIN orders are usually in the thousands.

++++For everyone just starting out including OP, how awesome of a feeling is it when you find those profitable products? hahaha Man, I get such a rush when I come across one that has a $15+ profit AFTER all fees. As mentioned I have a few locked in, that should make some decent returns, just need to get that first order here and try it out. Looking forward to this journey to say the least. ++++

OP, let us know how DH treats you on that first order. Quality etc. I'll do the same.

 

[Vigilante]

You guys should start a Skype chat together… It is always helpful to find people at the same stage of the game as you are to compare notes, stories, successes and failures.

 

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[mikeobi]

I'd be down for something like that

 

[TheNextTrump]

You guys should start a Skype chat together… It is always helpful to find people at the same stage of the game as you are to compare notes, stories, successes and failures

I agree, could also have a little "friendly" competition. Keep the juice flowing through the starting phase.

@mikeobi

PM your Skype name, I'll be available this evening if your interested.

Same goes for any one else.

 

[DrunkFish]

++++For everyone just starting out including OP, how awesome of a feeling is it when you find those profitable products? hahaha Man, I get such a rush when I come across one that has a $15+ profit AFTER all fees. As mentioned I have a few locked in, that should make some decent returns, just need to get that first order here and try it out. Looking forward to this journey to say the least. ++++

Honestly hasn't hit me yet, even though making the amount of money i did with like 5 total minutes of effort should feel great haha. Just doesn't 'hit you' when you wait a month for the product, a day for the sale, a day to pack it up, almost a week til they get it, then another week to get the funds in my paypal, then another couple days until it's in my bank.

BUT, if I can make this consistent, I'm sure I'll wake up one day and feel extremely overjoyed. That's usually how I work.

 

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[mikeobi]

Once your selling performance increases, PayPal will make it so that you'll get paid instantly. I went through that crap for almost a year.

 

[DrunkFish]

Once your selling performance increases, PayPal will make it so that you'll get paid instantly. I went through that crap for almost a year.

Ah well that's good.

Hopefully this supplier works out. The last one i had to PM them to ask if they still sold the product, they sent me a link to some other store which stopped working after a few days, then i asked again and they sent me a different link to a different store.. was just weird. Not sure why they do that.

But if this supplier works out I'll feel a lot better ordering a lot more.

 

[TheNextTrump]

Yeah I think its 25 sales with standard/above standard feedback on eBay and your Paypal payments are instant.

@DrunkFish I have 3-4 people that are interested in the Skype chat. Should we try to set up a time for everyone to tune in at once ?

If so, I'm really open for what ever. Not sure how the group chat works on Skype, have only used it for 1v1's in the past.


Whats everyone thinking for "time frame" on first chat ?

 

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[DrunkFish]

Yeah I think its 25 sales with standard/above standard feedback on eBay and your Paypal payments are instant.

@DrunkFish I have 3-4 people that are interested in the Skype chat. Should we try to set up a time for everyone to tune in at once ?

If so, I'm really open for what ever. Not sure how the group chat works on Skype, have only used it for 1v1's in the past.


Whats everyone thinking for "time frame" on first chat ?

Ah that's good to know.
And really, we can just all be in the group and respond to each other and chat whenever we feel like it. We will all always be in the group/conversation basically. So once were all in the convo we can just chat whenever.

 

[TheNextTrump]

Nice, I like it. I'll start the group and add every one I have so far.

 

[Walter Hay]

Hi,

It's great to see how motivated you keen entrepreneurs are and I wish you all success.

I don't want to rain on your parade, just suggesting a little caution so that your excitement doesn't lead you to make mistakes. It might pay you to have a look at my article on B2B Scams here: Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.

Walter

 

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[DrunkFish]

Hi,

It's great to see how motivated you keen entrepreneurs are and I wish you all success.

I don't want to rain on your parade, just suggesting a little caution so that your excitement doesn't lead you to make mistakes. It might pay you to have a look at my article on B2B Scams here: Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.

Walter

Definitely not raining on my parade, I'm well aware of scams. I searched for the best possible supplier and both of them being top merchants on dhg help as I don't think you can buy top merchant status. Just a risk I'm willing to take. That's why I said if this supplier works out I'll be better ordering more. I'll check out some tips from your article too.

 

[TheNextTrump]

Thanks for the share @Walter Hay !

I've skimmed this thread in the past, but I'm going to go ahead and print out all the worthy post's and dig in.

Yet another GOLD MINE of content related to this topic, thanks man !


I've been communicating with a manufacturer on DHgate for the past two days. They had a MIN order of 300 of product X. for $1.50 a unit. I made a little pitch and explained I need to TEST it prior to ordering in bulk. Needless to say, I got them down to a sample order of 4 of product x. The cost is much higher, $5.50 a unit, but theres still room for a little return, and it will be roughly $22 to test a product that could potentially be a gem for my first product. Time will tell.

Back to the grind.

 

[TheNextTrump]

Definitely not raining on my parade, I'm well aware of scams. I searched for the best possible supplier and both of them being top merchants on dhg help as I don't think you can buy top merchant status. Just a risk I'm willing to take. That's why I said if this supplier works out I'll be better ordering more. I'll check out some tips from your article too.

I'm on the exact same page, I've sold on eBay enough to kind of "get a feel" for how these platforms operate.

If I get tooled by a top merchant with 100% positive feed back, I'll up the ante and figure out a better way to approach this importing game. As of now, I'm willing to take a loss if I follow this procedure and it proves me wrong. I'd imagine theres a pro scammer here and there, but for the most part, these guys are in the biz to make money, wouldn't think their top dawgs should be scammers ya know. Will see

 

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[Walter Hay]

I'm on the exact same page, I've sold on eBay enough to kind of "get a feel" for how these platforms operate.

If I get tooled by a top merchant with 100% positive feed back, I'll up the ante and figure out a better way to approach this importing game. As of now, I'm willing to take a loss if I follow this procedure and it proves me wrong. I'd imagine theres a pro scammer here and there, but for the most part, these guys are in the biz to make money, wouldn't think their top dawgs should be scammers ya know. Will see

Feedback is almost worthless. It is bought and sold. Happens on eBay too. DHGate has a bad reputation for that. They have been accused of using a default feedback system, so that if the buyer does not provide feedback, they do.

Walter